Trump defended Japanese Prime Minister when he met China's Xi — report

TOKYO- U.S. President Donald Trump defended Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi when Chinese President Xi Jinping criticized her in the Sino-U.S. summit this month, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun daily said on Sunday, citing unidentified government sources.

Japan's ties with China have deteriorated since Takaichi suggested last November that a hypothetical Chinese attack on Taiwan, the democratically governed island China claims as its own, could trigger a military response from Tokyo.

At the Beijing summit, Xi stated that Takaichi and Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te pose a threat to regional peace and urged Trump not to support them, the Yomiuri reported.

In response, Trump expressed his view that Takaichi is not the kind of leader who deserves criticism, the paper said.

No one was immediately available for comment at the Japanese prime minister's office, foreign ministry or the U.S. embassy in Tokyo outside regular business hours.

Trump had a phone call with Takaichi hours after ending his two-day visit to China. The two leaders reaffirmed an "ironclad" bilateral alliance in that phone talk, Takaichi has said.

(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Kim Coghill)